Operators

PHP Operators

PHP Operator is a symbol i.e used to perform operations on operands. In simple words, operators are used to perform operations on variables or values. For example:

 
  1. $num=10+20;//+ is the operator and 10,20 are operands

In the above example, + is the binary + operator, 10 and 20 are operands and $num is variable.

PHP Operators can be categorized in following forms:

 

We can also categorize operators on behalf of operands. They can be categorized in 3 forms:

  • Unary Operators: works on single operands such as ++, — etc.
  • Binary Operators: works on two operands such as binary +, -, *, / etc.
  • Ternary Operators: works on three operands such as “?:”.

Arithmetic Operators

The PHP arithmetic operators are used to perform common arithmetic operations such as addition, subtraction, etc. with numeric values.

Operator Name Example Explanation
+ Addition $a + $b Sum of operands
Subtraction $a – $b Difference of operands
* Multiplication $a * $b Product of operands
/ Division $a / $b Quotient of operands
% Modulus $a % $b Remainder of operands
** Exponentiation $a ** $b $a raised to the power $b

The exponentiation (**) operator has been introduced in PHP 5.6.


Assignment Operators

 

The assignment operators are used to assign value to different variables. The basic assignment operator is “=”.

Operator Name Example Explanation
= Assign $a = $b The value of right operand is assigned to the left operand.
+= Add then Assign $a += $b Addition same as $a = $a + $b
-= Subtract then Assign $a -= $b Subtraction same as $a = $a – $b
*= Multiply then Assign $a *= $b Multiplication same as $a = $a * $b
/= Divide then Assign
(quotient)
$a /= $b Find quotient same as $a = $a / $b
%= Divide then Assign
(remainder)
$a %= $b Find remainder same as $a = $a % $b

Bitwise Operators

The bitwise operators are used to perform bit-level operations on operands. These operators allow the evaluation and manipulation of specific bits within the integer.

Operator Name Example Explanation
& And $a & $b Bits that are 1 in both $a and $b are set to 1, otherwise 0.
| Or (Inclusive or) $a | $b Bits that are 1 in either $a or $b are set to 1
^ Xor (Exclusive or) $a ^ $b Bits that are 1 in either $a or $b are set to 0.
~ Not ~$a Bits that are 1 set to 0 and bits that are 0 are set to 1
<< Shift left $a << $b Left shift the bits of operand $a $b steps
>> Shift right $a >> $b Right shift the bits of $a operand by $b number of places

Comparison Operators

Comparison operators allow comparing two values, such as number or string. Below the list of comparison operators are given:

Operator Name Example Explanation
== Equal $a == $b Return TRUE if $a is equal to $b
=== Identical $a === $b Return TRUE if $a is equal to $b, and they are of same data type
!== Not identical $a !== $b Return TRUE if $a is not equal to $b, and they are not of same data type
!= Not equal $a != $b Return TRUE if $a is not equal to $b
<> Not equal $a <> $b Return TRUE if $a is not equal to $b
< Less than $a < $b Return TRUE if $a is less than $b
> Greater than $a > $b Return TRUE if $a is greater than $b
<= Less than or equal to $a <= $b Return TRUE if $a is less than or equal $b
>= Greater than or equal to $a >= $b Return TRUE if $a is greater than or equal $b
<=> Spaceship $a <=>$b Return -1 if $a is less than $b
Return 0 if $a is equal $b
Return 1 if $a is greater than $b

Incrementing/Decrementing Operators

The increment and decrement operators are used to increase and decrease the value of a variable.

Operator Name Example Explanation
++ Increment ++$a Increment the value of $a by one, then return $a
$a++ Return $a, then increment the value of $a by one
decrement –$a Decrement the value of $a by one, then return $a
$a– Return $a, then decrement the value of $a by one

Logical Operators

The logical operators are used to perform bit-level operations on operands. These operators allow the evaluation and manipulation of specific bits within the integer.

Operator Name Example Explanation
and And $a and $b Return TRUE if both $a and $b are true
Or Or $a or $b Return TRUE if either $a or $b is true
xor Xor $a xor $b Return TRUE if either $ or $b is true but not both
! Not ! $a Return TRUE if $a is not true
&& And $a && $b Return TRUE if either $a and $b are true
|| Or $a || $b Return TRUE if either $a or $b is true

String Operators

The string operators are used to perform the operation on strings. There are two string operators in PHP, which are given below:

Operator Name Example Explanation
. Concatenation $a . $b Concatenate both $a and $b
.= Concatenation and Assignment $a .= $b First concatenate $a and $b, then assign the concatenated string to $a, e.g. $a = $a . $b

Array Operators

The array operators are used in case of array. Basically, these operators are used to compare the values of arrays.

Operator Name Example Explanation
+ Union $a + $y Union of $a and $b
== Equality $a == $b Return TRUE if $a and $b have same key/value pair
!= Inequality $a != $b Return TRUE if $a is not equal to $b
=== Identity $a === $b Return TRUE if $a and $b have same key/value pair of same type in same order
!== Non-Identity $a !== $b Return TRUE if $a is not identical to $b
<> Inequality $a <> $b Return TRUE if $a is not equal to $b

 

Execution Operators

PHP has an execution operator backticks (“). PHP executes the content of backticks as a shell command. Execution operator and shell_exec() give the same result.

Operator Name Example Explanation
backticks echo `dir`; Execute the shell command and return the result.
Here, it will show the directories available in current folder.

Note: Note that backticks (“) are not single-quotes.


Error Control Operators

PHP has one error control operator, i.e., at (@) symbol. Whenever it is used with an expression, any error message will be ignored that might be generated by that expression.

Operator Name Example Explanation
@ at @file (‘non_existent_file’) Intentional file error

PHP Operators Precedence

Let’s see the precedence of PHP operators with associativity.

Operators Additional Information Associativity
clone new clone and new non-associative
[ array() left
** arithmetic right
++ — ~ (int) (float) (string) (array) (object) (bool) @ increment/decrement and types right
instanceof types non-associative
! logical (negation) right
* / % arithmetic left
+ – . arithmetic and string concatenation left
<< >> bitwise (shift) left
< <= > >= comparison non-associative
== != === !== <> comparison non-associative
& bitwise AND left
^ bitwise XOR left
| bitwise OR left
&& logical AND left
|| logical OR left
?: ternary left
= += -= *= **= /= .= %= &= |= ^= <<= >>= => assignment right
and logical left
xor logical left
or logical left
, many uses (comma) left

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